Clarksville Council discusses CSC use of Heritage Park

The Clarksville City Council is getting involved in the continuing discussion over whether the city will allow the Clarksville Soccer Club to use the fields at Heritage Park for practice.(Photo: The Leaf-Chronicle)Buy Photo

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — The Clarksville Soccer Club is continuing its quest for additional field time at the Heritage Park Soccer Complex to hold practices.

However, the city's Parks and Recreation Department has maintained that the soccer complex's playing fields cannot withstand the extra wear and tear that would come with the additional traffic.

Both parties presented their case to the Clarksville City Council Thursday evening at the council's non-voting executive session for October at the request of Ward 1 City Councilman Richard Garrett, who sits on the city's Parks and Rec Committee.

"The purpose of today for me was just to open lines of discussion," Garrett said. "To see where we could all come together and kind of develop a solution, versus just pointing out the apparent problems in our current situation."

John Rudolph, the CSC treasurer, made the club's presentation.

Rudolph explained to the council that the CSC, a travel soccer club, was focused on getting more time at the Heritage Park facility in order to establish a "home" for the club, as well as make the best use of its staff at a centrally located facility and establish a "positive partnership" with the city government. Additionally, its current facilities don't allow "adequate space" for the club to grow, he said.

According to Rudolph, the CSC would only be seeking practice access for around 300 kids "a few nights per week," and a busy practice night would include 12 teams practicing over a three-hour block of time on three of the eight fields at Heritage Park.

Rudolph pointed to other parks around Middle Tennessee — including parks in Murfreesboro, Brentwood and Hendersonville — that allow players to use their facilities for games and practices for more than 200 days each year. However, he said, with the CSC request, the maximum annual usage of Heritage Park's fields would be 180 days, while the total use in 2016 would only be 134 days, and current use is less than 70 days a year.

Rudolph also told the Council that the extra user fees generated by the CSC's additional use would be around $20,000 annually, and that revenue could be used to help with turf maintenance and other improvements. He added that the club is also willing to pay additional fees so its can "be good stewards" of the facility.

And the CSC would be willing to compromise and meet the city parks department somewhere in the middle, Rudolph told The Leaf-Chronicle last week. He added the only area it was unwilling to compromise on was the city's refusal to open up the playing fields for practice.

"We are asking you as our civic leaders to do what is in your power to maximize the soccer communities' access to our local soccer park and to continue to find opportunities to develop additional practice locations within the city of Clarksville," Rudolph said in closing.

However, Mark Tummons, the city Parks and Rec director, said that in an April meeting with the club they had agreed to accommodate all of the CSC's requests, with the exception of allowing 43 weeks of practice time on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 5-9 p.m.

But the city agreed to several other items, Tummons added, including granting the CSC more access to the park on Sundays and Saturdays, beginning the season earlier in March, hosting four tournaments each year and hosting summer tryouts.

Tummons also disagreed with Rudolph's assessment of the use other Middle Tennessee soccer complexes see. He explained that many of the other Middle Tennessee cities identified by the CSC either have more fields, less players in their leagues or better lighting at their facilities.

Frank Newman, the city's sports turf manager, also spoke to the council about turf maintenance and its importance, as well as the department's difficulty in keeping it maintained at current usage levels.

According to Newman, turf maintenance is important not only for the appearance of the field, but also to ensure smooth gameplay and safety for the players. Worn turf and divots in the field can inhibit the movement of the ball and cause injuries to players, he explained.

Tummons also made several proposals for additional practice facilities, such as adding new practice areas at Edith Pettus, Bel-Air and Liberty parks; creating practice fields in the open areas at Heritage Park; adding more lighting to the Heritage practice fields and game fields; or developing a new athletic complex.

At the end of the meeting Ward 11 Councilman Bill Powers expressed disappointment that the council had to mediate between two organization that clearly had the best intentions for Clarksville's youth at heart, and urged them to continue discussions.

Reach government reporter Alexander Harris at 931-245-0742, or on Twitter at @ACHarris_Leaf.